Update — July 30: The Hamilton Spectator reports that the Hamilton Conservation Authority measured more than 111 meters of rain within two hours at Lake Avenue and Queenston Road in east-end Hamilton on July 26. (Hurricane Hazel dropped 120 meters onto the city during a longer period of time in 1954.)

Update — July 27: Regular transit service has resumed. T

Today’s heavy rainfall has resulted in traffic and transit chaos in Hamilton as storm sewers have backed up, creeks have flooded their banks and water is filling basements and roadways. Many traffic signals are working intermittently as power is out in some parts of the city

Water has flooded the basements of more than 1,000 homes and heavy volumes of rain and a power outage are impeding the main pump station at the Woodward Wastewater Treatment Plant, causing a large amount of water to flow into the storm sewer system.

The City of Hamilton has completely closed several streets in the lower east-end of the city, including all or parts of

• Beach Boulevard;
• Burlington Street East;
• the Queen Elizabeth Way;
• Red Hill Valley Parkway; and
• Woodward Avenue.

Buses serving the Hamilton Street Railway’s 4 Bayfront and 11 Parkdale routes operate along most of these streets, so passengers should expect delays — or no service — today.

The floods have also intruded onto other local streets, delaying many other HSR buses or diverting them from their regular routes. The floods also overwhelmed the Mountain Transit Centre, hindering buses from entering service.